Cambodia’s Power Scramble

The Cambodian elections last month yielded a mixed bag of results. Hun Sen, seeking to legitimize his bloody takeover of the government last year, won a plurality of the vote, but Cambodians rightly denied him the two-thirds majority required to form a new government on his own. He has the power to organize a new regime but cannot rule without coalition partners. To no one’s surprise after a tough campaign, the two main opposition parties are not buying in.

They distrust the former Khmer Rouge official, who came to power in Phnom Penh with Vietnamese backing, and their reasons are many. Prince Norodom Ranariddh, whose party won the next-largest block of votes, was ousted as co-prime minister last year by Hun Sen, who had shared the title. Hun Sen’s tough tactics in this year’s elections outraged Sam Rainsy, a Western favorite whose party trailed in the counting.

Even as Hun Sen tries to reach out to the opposition, he flips-flops. One day he says he is willing to rule in coalition with the two other parties. A few days later he excludes Rainsy.

Both electoral opponents insist on an investigation of alleged electoral fraud before committing to a coalition. If that is not forthcoming, they plan to boycott the new National Assembly, which is scheduled to convene Sept. 24. So far the National Election Committee has rejected hundreds of opposition complaints.

Now the wily Hun Sen has appealed to Cambodia’s popular but flighty King Sihanouk to broker a deal. Surely the clever old king is pushing his son to the table for a deal that would give the royal family a hand in governance. But Ranariddh wants a sure thing. There are none in Cambodia.

Rainsy, meanwhile, has met with the king, who is said to be willing to conduct a meeting of the rival parties to prevent post-election deadlock.

Until and unless Hun Sen builds a coalition government that includes both Ranariddh and Rainsy, Cambodia cannot expect international support, and his government can do little materially without it.